It is well recognized that nearly every aspect of manufacturing, as well as life itself, is dependant upon water. Water includes an infinite combination of cations and anions, metals, turbidity, dissolved solids, and so forth, all of which combine to form unique water chemistries. Technology provides the ability to adjust, reduce, or remove such constitutes which can effectively prepare water for use in a particular application. Proper water treatment provides an economically way of conditioning water to a predetermined quality level as required for the particular application.
For instance, municipal water may be obtained from any source, including seawater, all of which can be made potable by use of proper water treatment equipment. A reverse osmosis system, with minimal pretreatment, is capable of lowering the total dissolved solids of sea water into drinking water. Despite the sophistication of pretreatment, improper monitoring can allow seawater to quickly foul membranes. However, if the fouling is monitored properly, the membranes can be easily cleaned and the system will continue to run a design specifications. If the fouling is not detected quickly through proper monitoring, the membranes can be irreparably damaged requiring partial or total membrane replacement. The cost of unplanned membrane replacement, not including the revenues typically associated with down time, can make such a system cost prohibitive.
As yet another example, water is also required for steam generation in nuclear reactors. The boilers operate at a super heat which requires a very high quality of water, such as that produced by ion exchange. In this situation, it is critical that the process system is monitored properly to avoid expensive boiler cleanings and the associated down time. Such systems may also include the need to monitor hazardous boiler chemicals, such as hydrazine, requiring highly qualified personnel.
Yet another example of a manufacturer requiring very advanced separation and/or ion exchange processes are the manufacturers of microprocessors. This type of manufacturing requires an ultra-pure water quality. Again it is most critical that the water treatment process system is monitored properly to avoid latent defects in the microprocessors.
Thus, no matter what water is used for, if it requires advanced separation and/or ion exchange processes to obtain the quality required, proper monitoring of the equipment is absolutely critical. It is well recognized that the better the monitoring, the water treatment system will operate economically and reliably.
One of the problems with maintaining advanced processing equipment is a need for highly qualified individuals. Employment of a full time staff is costly and can be problematic since such monitoring is repetitively and highly qualified individuals can easily become bored. For this reason, all advanced separation processes include a large assortment of strategically placed sensors that are typically incorporated into a computer system capable of comparing the sensor values against a pre-set quality level. However, if the operator does not recognize a particular alarm condition, the elaborate array of monitoring equipment is useless.
In an effort to lessen this well recognized problems, systems have been developed for use in transferring information to a remote site for back-up monitoring of the employee's duties. However, a simple remote monitor maintains the requirement that the individual monitoring the equipment is capable of determining, what he believes, is a controllable situation. This exposes a company to the expertise of a particular employee and unless the equipment owner has a secondary source to verify operation of the equipment, loss product, loss profit, and down time will still occur.
Thus, what is lacking in the art, is a means for monitoring advanced separation and/or ion exchange processes in a cost effective manner by highly trained personnel providing the consumer with a real time analysis and economic progression of their particular equipment that can be viewed and verified at any time and from any location having access to the Internet.